Rangers' Spanish legend Nacho Novo believes that the current Ibrox squad should not give up hope of nicking the Scottish Premiership title from bitter local rivals Celtic just yet - using the Gers' experiences in the 2004/05 season as evidence that anything is possible.
The Light Blues currently sit nine points behind Celtic upon the return to top-flight football after almost a month away from action due to the Qatar World Cup; since then, they have inherited a new manager after the sacking of Gio van Bronckhorst paved the way for Michael Beale to take the Govan throne after leaving English Championship side Queens Park Rangers.
The task that Beale has on his hands is evidently seismic, and only the most devout of Rangers fans can still massively harbour hopes of winning the title as Ange Postecoglou 's men begin to run away with what could be a second league title in two years under the Australian. But Novo has refused to admit that his former club will taste defeat in the title race - alluding to the infamous 'Helicopter Sunday' of May 2005 to prove that the unthinkable can be achieved.
"The players are going to have to stick together and prove everybody wrong and start winning,” Novo told the Rangers Review. “You can’t blame the manager or anybody. They are going to need to push themselves, it’s as simple as that and fight for each other. That’s how you win games.
“Nine points, it happened to us before and we did it. We had a terrible start to the 2004-05 season and in the second half, we went for it. I think we should get big Marv in the dressing room and tell them to keep believing."
Rangers, of course, relied on a late Scott McDonald double to hand them the title on Sunday, May 21 - almost 18 years ago. The Gers became ecstatic when they found out about the striker's output, winning the league at Hibernian in the most dramatic of circumstances.
But Novo believes that Rangers can surpass that by beating Celtic in the Glasgow derby just after Christmas at Ibrox. “We have a good squad with good players but we’re going to need to match them up, not make any mistakes and we need to beat them in the Old Firm games. Draws are no good, we need to win.
“I think these players will stick together and hopefully the new manager can make a difference.”
